THE WORD "EVENING"
INTERPRETATION OF SHOPS AND
OFFICES ACT
WHEN DOES EVENING BEGIN?
Mr. F. W. Rowley, head of the Labour Department, yesterday informed a Dominion representative that an interesting decision had recently" been given by the Magistrate .at Timaru upon a 'case brought by the Department under Section 25 of'the Shops and Offices Act. 'I'lnn section provides that the majority of the shopkeepers in any trade may by requisition to the Minister fix the closing hours "in the evening" of all the phops engaged in' the trade in their district. '
"Section. 25 does not specify what 'ovening' means," said Mr. Eowley, "and it has been the practice of the requisitionaries and of the Department to regard any hours from five o'clock onwards as evening. In a case heard at Wellington in-October-last, the Chief Justice gave a ruling to the effect that.the word 'evening' means 'about the time of .sunset.' The effect of this decision is that the hour. of,-.say, five o'clock in the'sum-luer-time is not evening, • although it ivould be in the, winler-time. After the delivery of the Chief Justice's judgment, Parliament inserted a definition of the word 'evening' in last year's legislation, viz.,. 'that evening shall be deemed to be the time of the day not earlier than five o'clock in the afternoon.' The Magistrate at Timaru, in a recent case instituted by the Department, decided that, this amendment did not. override the Chief Justice's ruling, and that evening must still be deemed to be about the.- time of sunset, provided that the hour shall not be earlier than five , o'clock. Against this decision the Department is now appealing to the Supreme Court. The appeal is one of some importance, as it may affect the > interpretation of the word 'evening,' not only in the Shops mid Offices Act, but in any other statute."
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Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 134, 1 March 1919, Page 8
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305THE WORD "EVENING" Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 134, 1 March 1919, Page 8
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